- 1. What are Website Breadcrumbs?
- 2. What are The Different Types of Website Breadcrumbs?
- 3. When Should You Use Website Breadcrumbs?
- 4. Why are Website Breadcrumbs Important For SEO?
- 5. What are The Benefits of Using Website Breadcrumbs for SEO?
- 6. How Do You Optimise Website Breadcrumbs?
- 7. How to Add WordPress Breadcrumbs to Your Website?
- 8. What are The Common Mistakes When Using Website Breadcrumbs for SEO?
- 9. How to Remove WordPress Breadcrumbs From Your Website?
- 10. How Markethinkers Can Help You Create Website Breadcrumbs?
What are Website Breadcrumbs?
The phrase ‘follow the breadcrumbs’ means to follow the hints and clues that are left behind to get back to where you might have come from. Upon hearing this phrase, the first thing that may come to mind is a fairy tale story of a brother and sister who make their way through the woods, and while Hansel and Gretal did indeed follow the breadcrumbs, we are talking about something a little bit different today. Website breadcrumbs refer to the navigational features that a website uses to ensure that those on the page will know exactly where they are and know how to get back to where they came from.
Websites with many different pages can often be confusing, and if no breadcrumbs are left to ensure that a user can find their way back after clicking through a few internal links, users can become overwhelmed and simply leave the page for a website that is easier to navigate through. Breadcrumbs on websites allow users to track where they are and how far they are from the homepage, giving a clear indication of the path that they have taken. They are usually located near the top of the page and allow users to click on the links to take them back to previous pages! Navigation is an essential part of any website’s design, and ensuring that your users are able to easily make their way through a website can really impact the experience that they have!
What are The Different Types of Website Breadcrumbs?
Breadcrumbs on a website can come in many different forms to ensure that each unique website is able to offer its users the best form of navigation, usually depending on what the website is about. The following are the different types of breadcrumbs and a brief look into how they differ from one another.
Hierarchy-Based Breadcrumbs
Hierarchy-based breadcrumbs are one of the most common types of breadcrumbs that can be found on websites. These breadcrumbs inform users of where they are within the structure of the website and how to return to the homepage. These kinds of website breadcrumbs will also usually be linked to the pages, ensuring that it is easy for a user to return to whichever page he/she wants to.
Attribute-Based Breadcrumbs
Attribute-based breadcrumbs are usually used on e-commerce websites and they work to show what attributes that a user has clicked to get where they are. this is highly beneficial for pages that may come up on search engines, as when a user clicks on a specific product, they can see the path it would take to get to that page, and perhaps if it is not what they are looking for, they can click on a more general tab to have a look at the other offerings that are available.
History-Based Breadcrumbs
History-based breadcrumbs work in a similar way to search history, and instead of outlining the path that the user has taken according to the attributes that they have clicked on, it outlines the history. This ensures that if a user has gone through a website and would like to return to the second page that they landed on, they have a very clear way to identify what the page was, even if they are unsure about the name of it.
When Should You Use Website Breadcrumbs?
Breadcrumbs are beneficial for every website in terms of SEO, but often they are not entirely necessary. If you have a smaller website with fewer pages and links, it may not be that important that you add breadcrumbs to your website. A good way to determine whether or not your page needs breadcrumbs is to create a sitemap of your website, showing all the links and follow on pages that your website has. This will create a graphic display that will help you to determine whether or not it is necessary to use breadcrumbs, if you have many pages that follow on from one another and may be difficult to navigate, this is when it is necessary to use breadcrumbs. If your page is currently small with few different linked pages, you may not need to use website breadcrumbs now, but this does not mean that you will not need them in the future. It may be necessary to re-evaluate once new pages have been included.
Why are Website Breadcrumbs Important For SEO?
Website breadcrumbs are extremely important when it comes to your SEO, and if you have a large website with many different linked pages, it is important that you consider implementing this navigation system. Websites that are long can often be confusing for both visitors and search engine crawlers indexing your website, and it is important that you ensure that visitors and search engine crawlers have an easy navigation route that they can follow.
Website breadcrumbs form an important part of SEO because they improve the user experience, this keeps these users on web pages for longer which lets search engines know that you have reliable and relevant content to the searches that they are ranking you for! This will mean that Google will rank you higher in the search results, meaning more traffic is being streamed to your website! Website breadcrumbs, therefore, form an important part of your SEO strategy and they should be elements that are considered when developing an SEO strategy!
What are The Benefits of Using Website Breadcrumbs for SEO?
As discussed above, it is pretty obvious that website breadcrumbs can be seen as important when it comes to your SEO. The following are just a few of the many benefits of using breadcrumbs on a website.
Breadcrumbs Improve UX
Breadcrumbs are the ultimate navigation system for users, allowing them to find where they have come from easily and quickly! Though different types of websites and different industries may use different kinds of website breadcrumbs, they all have the same goal, which is to make navigating from a website easier! Breadcrumbs, therefore, improve the overall user experience, and ensure that no matter how deep they may go into the different pages that you offer, they will always be able to find their way back to the previous pages they have been on!
Improve Site Ranking
Website breadcrumbs not only make it easier for website visitors to navigate their way through a page, but they also help search engine crawlers to better understand and contextualise your website. If website crawlers have an easy way to navigate through your website and can understand where they are and what pages relate to one another, your website is far more likely to rank higher!
As website breadcrumbs are designed to improve the user experience, they are extremely important to search engine crawlers, and without considering the fact that they actually help these crawlers to better understand a website, anything that helps to improve the experience of search engine users is a win!
Keeps People On a Site For Longer
When users are able to easily navigate through a website, it means that they are more likely to stay on a page for longer. Websites that are tricky to navigate and confuse the users on them may find users so far down the rabbit hole of pages that they simply leave a website. It is far easier to leave a page than try and find your way back to the home page with no navigation system in place. having an easy way for users to find their way back through the pages and an easy way for them to know where they are will ensure that they remain on a website for longer.
How Do You Optimise Website Breadcrumbs?
The first thing that you should do to ensure that your website breadcrumbs are optimised is make sure that they are visible to the visitors who are led to your website. Many web designers make the decision to hide the breadcrumb trail on a webpage because it does not match the style and design of the page, it is important that you let your designer know that you want it to be clearly visible and easily accessible!
How to Add WordPress Breadcrumbs to Your Website?
If reading the above has assured you of the necessity of breadcrumbs, you may be wondering how to add breadcrumbs with WordPress. The following are just a few of the best tools that can be used.
Use Yoast SEO
When using Yoast SEO to add breadcrumbs to your website, this tool makes it possible to add specific blocks to your website that ensure that specific pages and posts have individual and unique breadcrumbs to direct users back to the pages that they have previously been on. To add site-wide breadcrumbs to your web page, Yoast offers a great and easy way to do this!
WooCommerce Breadcrumb Plugin
If you are after specifically styled breadcrumbs for WordPress, you may want to consider using The WooCommerce Breadcrumb plugin for your website. Through specific HTML code, this plugin allows you to create breadcrumbs that are uniquely styled, from styles ranging from sorted to unsorted types of breadcrumb links. This is great for those who are looking to create unique types of breadcrumbs for WordPress, and since it is a plugin, it is very easy to use!
Use a Theme that Includes Breadcrumbs
WordPress themes will sometimes have built-in breadcrumbs that form part of the design of the website as an entirety. This means that You will not have to go and add in these website breadcrumbs yourself, all you need to do is create the pages! This is extremely beneficial for brands and businesses who are not as tech-savvy or do not have a team behind them to help structure and implement this website feature.
Add Breadcrumbs Manually
When using WordPress breadcrumbs, you can also manually switch this feature on and off. This is very useful if you are a business that is adding and changing the structure of your website often. Smaller websites have less use for things like breadcrumbs, making it important to be able to change this feature as you adapt your website. Accessing breadcrumbs manually ensures that you are able to edit and make changes as you see fit!
What are The Common Mistakes When Using Website Breadcrumbs for SEO?
Many people assume that website breadcrumbs can replace normal website navigation systems, but it is important to remember that website crumbs are an extra feature, not a replacement feature. In order to ensure that your users and search engine crawlers who are indexing your website are easily able to make their way through your pages, be sure that you have all potential navigation systems set up and in place. Another mistake that tends to be common when it comes to website breadcrumbs is that They are sometimes not mobile-friendly. As mobile devices become more and more popular and are used to complete searches and visit websites more frequently, all aspects of your website should be able to be used on mobile devices, this includes breadcrumbs. These are just two of the main mistakes that are made when it comes to creating website breadcrumbs, though there are many more. If you need help setting up and implementing website breadcrumbs, do not hesitate to contact us to find out more!
How to Remove WordPress Breadcrumbs From Your Website?
The great thing about using breadcrumbs on WordPress is that they are pretty easy to switch on and off, depending on whether or not you think your web page needs this accessory. If you have recently undergone changes and have reduced the number of pages and information that your website has and no longer need this feature, all you have to do is simply switch off this page customisation!
How Markethinkers Can Help You Create Website Breadcrumbs?
As professional SEO consulting and SEO copywriting experts, we here at Markethinkers are able to help with all your marketing and SEO needs! One of the biggest things to consider when creating website breadcrumbs is the navigation system and the content you need to structure and this can often be confusing if you are not sure what you are doing. In order to determine whether or not you actually need website breadcrumbs, website designers will have to create a site map that lays out the different pages and paths that users take, determining whether normal navigation systems can help them return to previous pages or if they need to include navigation breadcrumbs.